Ernie Els yips another putt, this one from 18 inches

The dreaded yips that plagued Ernie Els on a couple of occasions last year apparently have carried over into the new year. Els’ par putt from 18 inches missed the hole entirely on his last hole in the first round of the BMW South African Open, the Irish Times reported.

“It’s brutal,” Andrew Coltart of Sky Sports said. “He is a lot more comfortable from 15, 20 feet. The expectation level is lower, no pressure on himself, and he can breathe normally and just go through the stroke no problem at all. You come into the three or four-foot range and things are completely different.”

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